How much wetland has the world lost? Long-term and recent trends in global wetland area
TL;DR: It is found that the reported long-term loss of natural wetlands averages between 54–57% but loss may have been as high as 87% since 1700 AD, and there has been a much faster rate of wetland loss during the 20th and early 21st centuries.
Abstract: It has been frequently stated, but without provision of supporting evidence, that the world has lost 50% of its wetlands (or 50% since 1900 AD). This review of 189 reports of change in wetland area finds that the reported long-term loss of natural wetlands averages between 54–57% but loss may have been as high as 87% since 1700 AD. There has been a much (3.7 times) faster rate of wetland loss during the 20th and early 21st centuries, with a loss of 64–71% of wetlands since 1900 AD. Losses have been larger and faster for inland than coastal natural wetlands. Although the rate of wetland loss in Europe has slowed, and in North America has remained low since the 1980s, the rate has remained high in Asia, where large-scale and rapid conversion of coastal and inland natural wetlands is continuing. It is unclear whether the investment by national governments in the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has influenced these rates of loss. There is a need to improve the knowledge of change in wetland areas worldwide, particularly for Africa, the Neotropics and Oceania, and to improve the consistency of data on change in wetland areas in published papers and reports.
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University College London1, University of London2, Johns Hopkins University3, Rockefeller Foundation4, United Nations University5, University of Washington6, Tsinghua University7, Harvard University8, Wildlife Conservation Society9, Duke University10, United States Environmental Protection Agency11, World Bank12
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify three categories of challenges that have to be addressed to maintain and enhance human health in the face of increasingly harmful environmental trends: conceptual and empathy failures (imagination challenges), such as an overreliance on gross domestic product as a measure of human progress, the failure to account for future health and environmental harms over present day gains, and the disproportionate eff ect of those harms on the poor and those in developing nations.
1,452 citations
31 Jul 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight the interlinkage in between population and economic growth and water demand, resources and pollution, that ultimately drive water scarcity, and the relevance of these aspects in local, rather than global, perspective, with a view to stimulating debate.
Abstract: The 2018 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report stated that nearly 6 billion peoples will suffer from clean water scarcity by 2050. This is the result of increasing demand for water, reduction of water resources, and increasing pollution of water, driven by dramatic population and economic growth. It is suggested that this number may be an underestimation, and scarcity of clean water by 2050 may be worse as the effects of the three drivers of water scarcity, as well as of unequal growth, accessibility and needs, are underrated. While the report promotes the spontaneous adoption of nature-based-solutions within an unconstrained population and economic expansion, there is an urgent need to regulate demography and economy, while enforcing clear rules to limit pollution, preserve aquifers and save water, equally applying everywhere. The aim of this paper is to highlight the inter-linkage in between population and economic growth and water demand, resources and pollution, that ultimately drive water scarcity, and the relevance of these aspects in local, rather than global, perspective, with a view to stimulating debate.
921 citations
Cites background from "How much wetland has the world lost..."
...The rate of wetland loss has been 370% faster during the 20 and early 21st centuries.(49) Since 1900 there has been a loss of 64% to 71% of wetlands....
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...Losses have been larger, and are now faster, for inland, rather than coastal, wetlands.(49) The rate of loss is presently highest in Asia....
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...The effects of sea level rise are underrated in.(49) Soils are also changing....
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...Since 1900 there has been a loss of 64% to 71% of wetlands.(49) Losses have been larger, and are now faster, for inland, rather than coastal, wetlands....
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...6% of the land but play a significant role in hydrology.(49) The loss of natural wetland area has been 87% since 1700....
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National University of Cordoba1, Leipzig University2, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ3, Indiana University4, United Nations5, University of the West Indies6, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology7, National Autonomous University of Mexico8, University of Minnesota9, BirdLife International10, University of Cambridge11, University of British Columbia12, National University of Río Negro13, Chiba University14, National Institute for Environmental Studies15, Michigan State University16, United Nations University17, International Institute of Minnesota18, Stellenbosch University19, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation20, Simón Bolívar University21, Hungarian Academy of Sciences22, University of Queensland23, Duke University24, Imperial College London25, Natural History Museum26, University of the West of England27, Stockholm University28, Clark University29, University of Cape Town30, IFREMER31, Radboud University Nijmegen32, George Mason University33, Royal Botanic Gardens34, University of Oxford35, University of the Philippines Diliman36
TL;DR: The first integrated global-scale intergovernmental assessment of the status, trends, and future of the links between people and nature provides an unprecedented picture of the extent of the authors' mutual dependence, the breadth and depth of the ongoing and impending crisis, and the interconnectedness among sectors and regions.
Abstract: The human impact on life on Earth has increased sharply since the 1970s, driven by the demands of a growing population with rising average per capita income. Nature is currently supplying more materials than ever before, but this has come at the high cost of unprecedented global declines in the extent and integrity of ecosystems, distinctness of local ecological communities, abundance and number of wild species, and the number of local domesticated varieties. Such changes reduce vital benefits that people receive from nature and threaten the quality of life of future generations. Both the benefits of an expanding economy and the costs of reducing nature's benefits are unequally distributed. The fabric of life on which we all depend-nature and its contributions to people-is unravelling rapidly. Despite the severity of the threats and lack of enough progress in tackling them to date, opportunities exist to change future trajectories through transformative action. Such action must begin immediately, however, and address the root economic, social, and technological causes of nature's deterioration.
913 citations
Cites background from "How much wetland has the world lost..."
...These new data reveal that human actions have directly altered at least 70% of land surface (18, 19); 66% of ocean surface is experiencing increasing cumulative impacts (20); around 85% of wetland area has been lost since the 1700s (21), and 77% of rivers longer than 1000 km no longer flow freely from source to sea (22)....
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Conservation International1, Griffith University2, Carleton University3, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources4, International Institute of Minnesota5, United States Geological Survey6, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education7, University of Washington8, Cardiff University9, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust10, Free University of Berlin11
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an emergency recovery plan to bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss, which includes accelerating implementation of environmental flows; improving water quality; protecting and restoring critical habitats; managing the exploitation of freshwater ecosystem resources, especially species and riverine aggregates; preventing and controlling nonnative species invasions; and safeguarding and restoring river connectivity.
Abstract: Despite their limited spatial extent, freshwater ecosystems host remarkable biodiversity, including one-third of all vertebrate species. This biodiversity is declining dramatically: Globally, wetlands are vanishing three times faster than forests, and freshwater vertebrate populations have fallen more than twice as steeply as terrestrial or marine populations. Threats to freshwater biodiversity are well documented but coordinated action to reverse the decline is lacking. We present an Emergency Recovery Plan to bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss. Priority actions include accelerating implementation of environmental flows; improving water quality; protecting and restoring critical habitats; managing the exploitation of freshwater ecosystem resources, especially species and riverine aggregates; preventing and controlling nonnative species invasions; and safeguarding and restoring river connectivity. We recommend adjustments to targets and indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals and roles for national and international state and nonstate actors.
420 citations
TL;DR: PEATMAP as discussed by the authors is a GIS shapefile dataset that shows a distribution of peatlands that covers the entire world. It was produced by combining the most high quality available peatland map from a wide variety of sources that describe peat land distributions at global, regional and national levels.
Abstract: PEATMAP is a GIS shapefile dataset shows a distribution of peatlands that covers the entire world. It was produced by combining the most high quality available peatland map from a wide variety of sources that describe peatland distributions at global, regional and national levels. The following sequence of comparisons to discriminate between overlapping data sources were used: (1) Relevance. The most important criterion was that source data are able to identify peatlands faithfully and to distinguish them from other land cover types, especially non-peat forming wetlands. (2) Spatial resolution. In areas where two or more overlapping data sources were indistinguishable in terms of their relevance to peatlands, the dataset with the finest spatial resolution was selected. (3) Age. In any areas where two or more overlapping datasets were indistinguishable based on both their apparent relevance to peatlands and their spatial resolution, the data product that had been most recently updated was selected. Recently updated products commonly contain much older source data, the period over which the latest revision source data were collected as the primary measure of the age of a dataset.
390 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided an updated estimate based on updated unit ecosystem service values and land use change estimates between 1997 and 2011, using the same methods as in the 1997 paper but with updated data, the estimate for the total global ecosystem services in 2011 is $125 trillion/yr (assuming updated unit values and changes to biome areas).
Abstract: In 1997, the global value of ecosystem services was estimated to average $33 trillion/yr in 1995 $US ($46 trillion/yr in 2007 $US). In this paper, we provide an updated estimate based on updated unit ecosystem service values and land use change estimates between 1997 and 2011. We also address some of the critiques of the 1997 paper. Using the same methods as in the 1997 paper but with updated data, the estimate for the total global ecosystem services in 2011 is $125 trillion/yr (assuming updated unit values and changes to biome areas) and $145 trillion/yr (assuming only unit values changed), both in 2007 $US. From this we estimated the loss of eco-services from 1997 to 2011 due to land use change at $4.3–20.2 trillion/yr, depending on which unit values are used. Global estimates expressed in monetary accounting units, such as this, are useful to highlight the magnitude of eco-services, but have no specific decision-making context. However, the underlying data and models can be applied at multiple scales to assess changes resulting from various scenarios and policies. We emphasize that valuation of eco-services (in whatever units) is not the same as commodification or privatization. Many eco-services are best considered public goods or common pool resources, so conventional markets are often not the best institutional frameworks to manage them. However, these services must be (and are being) valued, and we need new, common asset institutions to better take these values into account.
3,932 citations
"How much wetland has the world lost..." refers background in this paper
...Many remaining wetlands continue to face severe pressures, despite the many benefits of high value they provide to people (Finlayson et al. 2005; Carpenter et al. 2011; Russi et al. 2013; Costanza et al. 2014)....
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James Cook University1, University of the Balearic Islands2, University of Maryland, College Park3, College of William & Mary4, University of California, Davis5, Florida International University6, University of South Alabama7, University of Western Australia8, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration9, University of New Hampshire10
TL;DR: This comprehensive global assessment of 215 studies found that seagrasses have been disappearing at a rate of 110 km2 yr−1 since 1980 and that 29% of the known areal extent has disappeared since seagRass areas were initially recorded in 1879.
Abstract: Coastal ecosystems and the services they provide are adversely affected by a wide variety of human activities. In particular, seagrass meadows are negatively affected by impacts accruing from the billion or more people who live within 50 km of them. Seagrass meadows provide important ecosystem services, including an estimated $1.9 trillion per year in the form of nutrient cycling; an order of magnitude enhancement of coral reef fish productivity; a habitat for thousands of fish, bird, and invertebrate species; and a major food source for endangered dugong, manatee, and green turtle. Although individual impacts from coastal development, degraded water quality, and climate change have been documented, there has been no quantitative global assessment of seagrass loss until now. Our comprehensive global assessment of 215 studies found that seagrasses have been disappearing at a rate of 110 km(2) yr(-1) since 1980 and that 29% of the known areal extent has disappeared since seagrass areas were initially recorded in 1879. Furthermore, rates of decline have accelerated from a median of 0.9% yr(-1) before 1940 to 7% yr(-1) since 1990. Seagrass loss rates are comparable to those reported for mangroves, coral reefs, and tropical rainforests and place seagrass meadows among the most threatened ecosystems on earth.
3,088 citations
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this paper, the status of wetland resources in the United States has been investigated, focusing on documenting historical wetland losses that occurred from colonial times through the 1980s, and a one-time effort has been made to document these losses.
Abstract: Report to Congress on the status of wetland resources in the United States. This report, a one-time effort, focuses on documenting historical wetland losses that occurred from colonial times through the 1980s.
864 citations
"How much wetland has the world lost..." refers background in this paper
...Although the rate of wetland loss in Europe has slowed, and in North America has remained low since the 1980s, the rate has remained high in Asia, where large-scale and rapid conversion of coastal and inland natural wetlands is continuing....
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...The extent of loss has varied between regions, with extrapolated losses of 83.7% for Asia (66.7% since 1945), 71.0% for Europe and 36.5% for North America....
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...Although the continuing low rate of loss in North America and the considerably reduced rate of loss in Europe are encouraging signs, the continuing very high rates of loss of both inland and coastal natural wetlands in Asia are of particular concern (see MacKinnon et al. 2012)....
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...The figures presented here are also likely be affected by geographical bias in the numbers of published reports found for different regions of the world, with most being from Asia, Europe and North America....
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...Regional differences in rates of loss were also significant for inland natural wetlands (Africa, Asia, Europe and North America only): K¼ 4, H¼ 9.81; d.f. 3; P¼ 0.0203 (with slowest rates in North America and fastest in Africa and Asia), but not quite significant for coastal natural wetlands (between Asia, Europe and North America): K¼ 3; H¼ 5.44; d.f. 2; P¼ 0.0659....
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TL;DR: In this article, a natural capital framework is used to assess freshwater ecosystem health and to understand the causes and consequences of change as well as the correctives for adverse change in any given watershed.
Abstract: Surface freshwaters—lakes, reservoirs, and rivers—are among the most extensively altered ecosystems on Earth. Transformations include changes in the morphology of rivers and lakes, hydrology, biogeochemistry of nutrients and toxic substances, ecosystem metabolism and the storage of carbon (C), loss of native species, expansion of invasive species, and disease emergence. Drivers are climate change, hydrologic flow modification, land-use change, chemical inputs, aquatic invasive species, and harvest. Drivers and responses interact, and their relationships must be disentangled to understand the causes and consequences of change as well as the correctives for adverse change in any given watershed. Beyond its importance in terms of drinking water, freshwater supports human well-being in many ways related to food and fiber production, hydration of other ecosystems used by humans, dilution and degradation of pollutants, and cultural values. A natural capital framework can be used to assess freshwater ecosystem s...
746 citations
"How much wetland has the world lost..." refers background in this paper
...Many remaining wetlands continue to face severe pressures, despite the many benefits of high value they provide to people (Finlayson et al. 2005; Carpenter et al. 2011; Russi et al. 2013; Costanza et al. 2014)....
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